Victims put Cardinal George Pell on notice before royal commission into child abuse in Rome

CARDINAL George Pell today comes face to face with child abuse victims who have travelled the globe for answers as the royal commission sets up in Rome.

Charles Miranda in Rome

News Corp Australia NetworkFebruary 29, 20164:49am

Survivors arrive in Rome3:02

Sexual abuse survivors have arrived in Rome ahead of Cardinal George Pell's appearance at Royal Commission.

February 28th 2016

2 years ago

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STANDING outside the Vatican as storms clouds overhead were moments from erupting, Chrissie Foster has just six words for Cardinal George Pell as he today faces his accusers — “be a man, tell the truth”.

After a year of debate, weeks of planning and a lifetime of heartache for some, Cardinal Pell will take the stand at the royal commission into institutionalised sexual child abuse in a specially convened sitting in a hotel room in Rome.

Here he will be grilled, at the ungodly hours set at his request of 10pm to 2am local time, each night for an expected four nights on what he knew of the abuse by several priests under his watch as head of the church firstly in Melbourne then Australia.

FOLLOW OUR LIVE COVERAGE OF GEORGE PELL’S TESTIMONY FROM 8AM

Chrissie and Anthony Foster, the parents of two female victims of the clergy, are in Rome. Picture: Charles MirandaSource:News Corp Australia

CARDINAL PELL ARRIVES AT HOTEL

Cardinal Pell has arrived — three hours early — at Hotel Quirinale where he will make his third appearance before the child sexual abuse royal commission.

He entered via a side gate, with reporters outside the hotel saying the Cardinal’s security team was heavy handed, pushing camera crews aside as he made his way into the building.

His evidence was to begin at 10pm but his defence began four hours earlier with his office looking to correct perceived “opinions” in a report in News Corp newspapers.

The Royal Commission has stated Cardinal Pell’s attendance recall in Rome was because of his holding of “positions of responsibility in both dioceses (Melbourne and Ballarat) at both times” in the period being analysed the 1970s to 1990s.

But the cardinal’s office emailed News Corp to point out that he was never in charge of the diocese in Ballarat when principle offender Father Gerard Ridsdale molested hundreds of boys only to be moved from parish to parish about the state.

Cardinal Pell’s office also asked that it be noted he was not a “close friend” of the convicted paedophile, despite the fact they both attended St Patricks College, they shared a house for a year, both went to corpus christi seminary, albeit at different times, and as heard in earlier testimony their families knew each other.

Cardinal Pell also said while he did come to court with Ridsdale when he faced charges of paedophilia that did not mean he was there in a “support” capacity but rather because he was told to do it.

“It is necessary to make the corrections,” his office said hours before the Cardinal made his much anticipated cross-examination appearance at the commission hearing. “It is important we hear and report the truth.”

It could have been a nonplussed affair held in Ballarat but instead the cardinal’s inability to travel abroad due to poor health forced today’s inquiry to the Italian capital and a scene tantamount to a Roman Circus with police deployed to throw the venue into lockdown and protect attending senior church figures, security guards tasked with body and bag searches and room sweeps, and doors sealed.

Cardinal Pell, pictured left, will take the stand at the royal commission in a specially convened sitting in a hotel room in Rome. Picture: Giulio Origlia/GettySource:Getty Images

But for people like Chrissie and her husband Anthony — whose daughters were abused by paedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell — and the 20 other survivors of abuse and or their supporters, the scene matters less than the result.

“I think this is wonderful because it’s completely turned around from what it was going to be — George Pell in a room in the Vatican on his own to a public room with witnesses and the world media,” she said yesterday.

“This is helping the work of the royal commission on a world stage, it’s been such a Godsend for the victims of Australia.

“We’ve been working toward this for 20 years and we are so grateful and happy to expose what went on in the Catholic Church to children which shouldn’t have happened in the first place and we want to stop it happening in the future.”

Clutching an Italian copy of her book ‘Cosi in Terra’ she wrote documenting the damage on her family from a priest preying and abusing two of her daughters, one of whom had since committed suicide, she said now knowing what was happening behind her back was greatly upsetting.

With her voice trembling and eyes welling she said her one message to Cardinal Pell on the eve of his evidence was: “Tell the truth, tell the truth, be honest, be a man and do what you should have done a long time ago.”

Former police inspector Peter Fox, who alleged church and police cover-ups of paedophile priest offending in NSW’s Hunter Valley, has also turned up in Rome to support abuse victims.

Mr Fox is in Rome on holiday with his wife, Penny, but on Monday will be at the elegant Quirinale Hotel to hear Cardinal Pell give evidence by video link.

He said accusations from some quarters that Cardinal Pell was the victim of a witch hunt by abuse survivors “full of hate” was totally wrong.

“They’re all saying, ‘we want answers’. We’ve got to know why this was allowed to happen and why it went on for so long and why someone didn’t stop it.”

He noted that Cardinal Pell was the country’s senior Catholic cleric and served in areas where abuse happened.

“It’s supposed to be at the top that the buck stops, but we’re not hearing that. We’re seeing a lot of finger pointing at either clergy who are deceased or others off on the periphery.”

Mr Fox said one question needing an answer was why there were “hotbeds of abuse” in places such as Ballarat, Wollongong, Bathurst and the Hunter Valley.

“Was it because senior clergy failed to act and allowed it to fester in those areas or were offending priests being moved to those areas to centralise them? No one knows.”

He said the royal commission was keen to get answers to such questions from an “insider” who should know — Cardinal Pell.

In 2014, a special commission of inquiry found that then detective chief inspector Fox’s allegations of a police cover-up of child sex abuse claims in the Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle could not be proven and he was not a credible witness.

Mr Fox has since left the force but sex abuse court cases against Catholic clergy in the diocese have been ongoing.

‘No more silence’ ... Clergy victims in St Peter's Square on the day of the face off with Cardinal Pell in Rome. Picture: Ella Pellegrini.Source:Supplied

Leading the group off the plane was David Ridsdale, abused by his uncle priest and family friend of Cardinal Pell, Father Gerald Ridsdale.

He said the long flight over from Australia, the first to Europe for many, was emotional but now gratifying.

“We all came to make sure the royal commission process was as open and transparent as it has been in Australia,” the de facto spokesman for those abused by the clergy in Ballarat said.

Cardinal George Pell leaves his home near the Vatican and walk to pick up his car in a garage. Picture: Ella PellegriniSource:News Corp Australia

He said it was not a big issue to face-off now with Cardinal Pell given all the other evidence heard by the commission over the past nine months.

He described the arrival in the home of the Catholic Church as “excited anticipation”.

“It’s not going to be a holiday but we’ll make sure there are good times as well because one thing we’ve learnt as a group is you have to laugh ... It’s been an extraordinary past nine months (of commission hearings).”

Clergy victims ... Gather in St Peter's Square on the day of the face off with Cardinal Pell in Rome. Picture: Ella PellegriniSource:Supplied

Andrew Collins, abused as a boy by four men in schools and churches, said he was feeling good and a lot of the tension and stress on leaving had dissipated.

“It’s going to be hard, growing up Catholic and walking about here and seeing these sites and we’ll be in awe then we’ll see all the collars and crucifixes and we’ll be triggered,” he said.

“We’ll see the highs and lows and that’s before we even see Cardinal Pell, so it’s going to be emotionally draining as well.”

In the Verdi Room of the Quirinale Hotel, 168 chairs were laid out for those who have registered to attend.

Cardinal George Pell missed delivering his usual Sunday mass at the magnificent Domus Australia in Rome last night, but he was very much in the thoughts of the small congregation and clearly front of mind among senior clergy.

Cardinal Pell’s sister Margaret said he was resting for the day ahead of the late night inquiry.

“He is resting today, preparing, he is very aware, he’s praying,” she said, as she left her brother’s home near the Vatican to attend Mass.

She blamed the media for his troubles of recent times.

“It’s not the (royal) commission, it’s the press,” she said of her brother’s woes.

Ribbons in support of abuse victims are tied to window grates at Domus Australia, where Cardinal George Pell usually gives mass. Picture: David Mirzoeff/i-ImagesSource:Supplied

The Very Reverend Terence Bell twice mentioned Pell by name during his delivery of Sunday mass at the Domus.

Reverend Bell said in his opening address that he prayed for Cardinal Pell before alluding to the battering the church has received in light of the clergy sexual abuse: “We pray especially for Cardinal Pell, and in particular the future of the Church. The truth will set us free, we must look forward not back.”

But only five people were at the Domus Mass to hear and give the prayers for Cardinal Pell.

Outside the church, several coloured ribbons had been tied to the window grates, but it was unknown if this was in support of Loud Fence, the support group that has encouraged ribbons on church property to acknowledge the victims of child sexual abuse.

Supporter ... Margaret Pell arrives at the house of George Pell in Rome, Italy. Picture: David Mirzoeff.Source:Supplied

Cardinal Pell’s sister returned to her brothers residence just outside of the Vatican and said Cardinal Pell was resting. Pell remained inside the house for the afternoon as heavy rain blanketed the Italian city.